"I am going to the theater; So-and-so is to act: you must be there.”
These words were addressed by a young man to a companion of his.
"O, no," said the other, "I cannot go, as I promised my mother that I would not. I would like to go very much; but I cannot, since I made her the promise.”
His companion urged him to go; but finding his entreaties in vain, he went to the theater himself.
The other young man went home and found his mother going out to a prayer-meeting.
She persuaded him to go; and at the meeting he was convinced of sin, and found peace through believing on Jesus.
The first thing that occurred to him when he awoke next morning was that he should at once go and tell his companion what the Lord had done for him. He went to his friend; and, after knocking at his room door several times without any answer, he went in. He was startled to find that death had been there. His companion was no more! He had been suddenly called into the presence of God.
It was a time of great revival—a time when the Lord was saving souls on the right hand and on the left. Yet that young man preferred the theater to the gospel-meeting, and spent his last night on earth witnessing the acting of hired performers! What a preparation for entering into the solemn realities of eternity!
"Ah," you say, "if he had known how soon and how suddenly he were to appear before God he would have spent his last night on earth in a different way.”
Yes, if he had known. But he did not know. And you know not what a day may bring forth. Are you ready to meet God? If your soul is still unsaved, what madness to be making merry on the brink of a lost eternity! Is it a time to make mirth while you stand in jeopardy every hour?
The other young man listened to entreaty and was brought under the power of the gospel and saved. What a happy day for him!
See that you resist not the Spirit. See that you refuse not Him that speaks from heaven.